


Saving doctor Faustus

by RedHatMeg



Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: But no romances!, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Gen, Literary References & Allusions, Mentions of the comics, My two OCs - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-04
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-10-09 23:22:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 19,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20518127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedHatMeg/pseuds/RedHatMeg
Summary: Someone is after Medic - someone who wants to turn his friends against him. Will certain dark secret of Medic's be revealed to his camrades? Will he be saved? Or is he going to be abandoned by his brothers in arms?





	1. These are not the good guys

**Author's Note:**

> My first fanfic, in a freaking year, people! And it's for Team Fortress 2, no less! I'm still learning about the characters so they might seem OOC at time.
> 
> This is set some time after the events of The Naked and the Dead comic. I wanted to address the deal with the devil thing because I have certain theory about it.
> 
> Please, leave a comment/review. I need them to live.
> 
> BTW - if you're worried about Adeline falling for one of the mercs and being Mary Sue, don't worry - usually when I write my OCs in the fic, I'm trying to make them more of supporting characters - someone who helps the canon characters with certain things but mostly stays on the sidelines.
> 
> And this story is about Medic, his relationship with the mercs and what he did in The Naked and The Dead.

As she was driving through the little town of Teufort in a truck, Adeline knew this assignment was going to be far different than her previous jobs. To this moment she was sent to deal with people who had done bad things (often very, very bad things), but were, overall, good guys. Sometimes their problem was coming from misunderstanding, old resentments and people being flawed human beings. To this moment she always had something to work with – some good will, some sense of justice, some inclinations of her target having conscience.  
But this time Adeline’s archenemy chose a different prey. This time he was going after people who some individuals might call sociopaths; people whose jobs required to kill, maim, cheat and betray. Of course, Adeline had read their files – they had their good qualities too and weren’t completely devoid of decency or love. Nevertheless, Adeline had a hard job before her for one, very important reason:  
One of them sold his soul to the devil and took the souls of others to avoid damnation. But the others didn’t know that. They were blissfully unaware what their brother in arms did to them. And that was what Saturninus wanted to use against them.  
As she approached their base in a truck, Adeline wondered how she was going to not only ruin Saturninus’ plans but also resolve this “deal with the devil” thing. Obviously, she couldn’t just leave it like that. As long as the deal was in power, neither one of her targets were safe. But how she was going to do it, she didn’t know. She wasn’t even sure if she was able to do it.  
Finally she got to the base’s gate. She took a deep breath, honked twice and waited. After few seconds she heard a gruff voice coming from an intercom on the gate:  
“State your objective, civilian!”  
Adeline smiled to herself. This had to be the infamous Soldier.  
“Mann Co. Delivery!” She said, almost chirping.  
“Ah, good. My new rocket launcher finally came.” Was Soldier’s reply. Right after that he added: “Come on in, kid.”  
And so she did.

* * *

The mercenaries stopped whatever they were doing to greet the delivery girl.  
Well, maybe not all of them – Medic had something to work with in the medbay, Pyro was asleep and Spy was on the watch duty. Anyway, once the delivery girl entered the base in her Mann Co. truck and once she came out of her vehicle, she was surrounded by mercenaries eager to find out what she came in with. The girl looked small and fragile. Her round face, with light skin and rosy cheeks brought to mind a porcelain doll, while her green eyes and red locks reminded Demoman of some Irish gal he met once. The girl looked harmless and almost friendly… but the mercs were used to seeing people who looked harmless but were, in fact, very deadly.  
Therefore soon their guest became a target of Sniper’s jarate.  
“Hey!” She exclaimed, looking at her stained uniform. “What’s the big idea?!”  
“I wanted to make sure that you’re not a BLU Spy.” Sniper’s response was calm and collected.  
“This is why you don’t have a girlfriend.” Scout pointed out.  
“I don’t need one.” Sniper retorted and turned back to their guest. “Anyway, I’m sorry for the inconvenience.” He added with the same tone.  
The girl sighed with resignation.  
“Oh well, I understand.”  
“Enough pleasanties!” Soldier screamed. “I want my rocket launcher!”  
She suddenly gave them a wide smile. There was something in that smile… something not quite natural that made her seem trustworthy and well-meaning.  
“Of course, gentlemen. Follow me.” She said, then went to the back of her truck and opened its heavy doors with relative ease. With an inviting gesture she added: “Suit yourself.”  
Soldier, Scout, Sniper, Engineer and Demoman started going into the truck and examine the crates inside. They were pretty enthusiastic about what they will find inside. Only Heavy – who was silent this whole time – was standing aside and observing the delivery girl suspiciously.  
“I’ve never seen you here.” He told her. She turned to him and smiled again.  
“Yes, well. It’s my second day at Mann Co.” She stopped smiling and gave another sigh. “Look, I get it: it’s a war zone up here and you are used to treachery. But I assure you that I want to help you.”  
Heavy looked at her again. He couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something odd about her; something he wasn’t sure he liked. A moment later he realized that she was looking at him too, and she seemed to be hesitant, before she regain her composure and finally spoke:  
“In fact, I have an additional reason to be here. Can I trust you about it?”  
He blinked with surprise, before he started to be suspicious again.  
“I don’t know. It depends on what is that reason.”  
She gave a small laugh and replied:  
“Fair enough. Well, I’m kind of happy you’ve asked.” She cleared her throat and gazed at him with seriousness. “I’m here to protect you.”  
Heavy’s eyebrows raised again and a few seconds later he gave a hearty laugh, bringing attention of others to himself, before they just shrugged his behavior on Heavy being Heavy and came back to looking at their new equipment.  
“Please, this is important.” The delivery girl whispered to him.  
Heavy calmed himself a bit after about thirty seconds and looked at the girl.  
“You want to protect me?” He said finally.  
“I know how it sounds.” She began. “And I know that you all faced multiple unimaginable foes in your lives: from enemy mercenaries to robots, wizards and ghosts.” She moved closer to him and murmured: “But this foe can’t be killed by conventional weapons. To be fair, he can’t be killed by unconventional ones too.”  
“Maybe he was never hit hard enough.” Heavy pointed out and smirked. “And with proper bullets.”  
The girl gave soft sign of resignation but quickly regained her composure.  
“Come on, let’s talk someplace else. I need to rest and eat lunch anyway. May as well, tell you everything somewhere private.”  
“You probably will need to change too.” Heavy prompted.  
“Yes, well, that too.”  
The girl went to her truck, took some kind of large bag from the passenger seat and came back to Heavy who started to lead the way.  
“One more thing,” He began, not even looking at his guest. “remember: we are all trained assassins. So no funny business. Understood?”  
“Oh, understood perfectly.” She said and gave him another friendly smile. “My name is Adeline, by the way.”  
“Mikhail.” He replied, not even looking at her. “But you must call me Heavy.”  
“Yessir!” She saluted jokingly.  
They entered the main building and went to the locker room. Heavy turned his back to not look at Adeline changing her clothes. Nevertheless, he decided to talk with her.  
“So who are you exactly? Some kind of secret operative?”  
“You can say that.”  
“That’s vague. And not very reassuring.”  
“You’re right. I’m sorry. Look, what I’m going to say next might sound crazy but I hope you will believe me, because this is important. Oh, and you can turn away now. I’m changed already.”  
Heavy did just that. Adeline was wearing red t-shirt and long blue skirt. She sat on the bench and tapped the seat next to her. Heavy took a seat, not moving his gaze from the girl. He still tried to put his finger on what was wrong with her.  
“I will decide for myself if I want to believe you.” He said finally. “Now, talk.”  
Adeline put her hands on her laps and looked at her interlocutor.  
“The guy I was talking about earlier… the one that can’t be killed by normal weapons… it just so happens that he’s a demon. Moreover, he’s the kind of demon that feeds on betrayal, therefore he tries to make friends and family turn on each other.”  
“Well then,” Heavy began. “a little betrayal now and then is normal here. We never turn on each other completely.”  
“Yes, I am aware of that. But that’s not all.” Adeline continued. “He also feeds on pain and resentments. He uses them to torment his prey, to make his victims weak and sustainable to manipulation. Generally he targets one particular person that did something really bad and he makes their closed ones hate them. Because you see, Heavy, one little betrayal isn’t enough to satisfy his appetite. He needs a full banquet of hate, anger, guilt and trauma. That’s how Saturninus operates. That’s what he wants and sooner or later he will start manipulating you all to turn on your brother in arms.”  
Probably Heavy wouldn’t believe her if it wasn’t for the fact that he had seen many weird things in his life. In fact, he fought with few demons that Merasmus sent their way couple of times. The entity that feeds off of people’s resentments and humans turning on each other also seemed to be plausible, in some weird, bizarre way. The question was whenever Adeline was telling the truth or did she have some kind of hidden agenda to use mercenaries to her advantage.  
Heavy looked at her and, once again, felt as if she meant him no harm and could be trusted. He felt like his initial disdain for her was weakening, but he wasn’t entirely convinced yet.  
“I know what you think and it’s good you don’t believe me easily.” She gave him another soft smile. “Perhaps you need a proof.”  
She stood up, took few steps away from him and suddenly Heavy realized she was holding a sword – a long sword with exceptionally shiny blade and metal handle. Suddenly the blade was covered in bright yellow flames, in of its own, without any movement from Adeline. Heavy came closer to inspect the blazing weapon. He couldn’t smell gasoline or any other flammable substance (and when one works with Pyro, they get to know few smells like that), moreover – when he brought hand closer to the flame, it didn’t burn him. For some reason when he was near it, it brought to his mind a pleasant sensation of his family home; as well as camaraderie he shared with these men he was working with.  
And then he experienced epiphany. He knew now what exactly was so odd about Adeline – she wasn’t human. She was an angel… or something similar to angel. She came here to help and she was telling the truth.  
Heavy moved away from her, still astounded by his realization.  
“This Saturninus guy… who is he going to target, specifically?” He asked a moment later. “Soldier? Spy? Me?”  
Adeline smiled to his reaction and the flaming sword in her hands disappeared. Then she saddened before giving a reply:  
“He’s after Medic.”  
Heavy felt something drop inside of him. A moment later he sat back on the bench, still looking at Adeline.  
“Doctor?”  
“Yes.” Adeline nodded. “From all of the Teufort Nine mercenaries, Saturninus decided to attack doctor.”  
A memory flashed before Heavy’s eyes. The memory of the other, older Heavy shooting Medic three times. First there was a cold sensation of horror and helplessness as Heavy observed doctor dying on the ground. Then there was a burning anger; a rage that was calling him to hit the other Heavy with all his might to avenge his friend, to make the bastard pay, to kill this son of a bitch for taking doctor away. And then there was this lingering feeling of loss; of the sadness that Medic is dead. This death wasn’t permanent, sure, but it didn’t mean that Heavy’s grief never happened. He didn’t want to see dead doctor again.  
Heavy clenched his fists with determination and stood up.  
“He needs to go through me first.” He punched his hand for emphasis.  
“That’s the spirit! I knew it was a good idea to tell you about it!” Adeline’s face beamed with enthusiasm, but then the girl got serious. “Now, I probably should talk with Medic. There something I need to ask him.”  
“What exactly?” Heavy asked.  
“Pardon, my friend, but this is something he probably would like to share of his own volition. I also would rather prefer for him to tell you and others about it, than if it was revealed to you by the third party.”  
Heavy was still curious about it, but to some extend he knew that Adeline had a point. After all, he also had his secrets and he revealed them to his friends when he felt they needed to know.  
“I will lead you to him.” He finally offered.  
“You are most kind, sir.” Adeline smiled to him again and they left the locker room.


	2. The power that would always wish Evil...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The afterlife of Medic and Sniper is discussed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The second chapter!
> 
> To be fair, the lack of feedback (even in form of faving and following) is very disheartening. But maybr you needed something more solid, so here it is.

When they reached the medbay, Heavy gently knocked to the door.

“Doctor…” He began, but the voice on the other side quickly called:

“I’m busy!”

Heavy looked at Adeline awkwardly, before he turned to the door and tried once again:

“Doctor, there’s someone who wants to talk with you. It’s… it’s very important.”

For a moment there was silence on the other side. Adeline wondered if she should come up with some kind of faked injury as a plausible excuse to go there… but then she remembered what Medic was often doing to his patients and she thought that maybe it wasn’t good idea. Nevertheless, she needed to talk with him. The sooner the better. And she already knew how to approach it.

“Vho is zat someone?” Medic asked finally.

Heavy wanted to respond but Adeline was quicker:

“I’m from Mann Co. There is some misunderstanding I need to straighten up.” She said with a chirping voice.

Technically none of those things was a lie, but considering what Medic was often ordering, “misunderstanding” could mean anything. Adeline hoped that the man will think it meant something along the lines of: “We are not entirely sure if you ordered parts of white tiger or a regular tiger.” To be fair, she was surprised earlier that Medic didn’t come out to meet the delivery truck like other mercenaries. She was certain he ordered something but he didn’t come to take it. Maybe he was preoccupied by his experiments… or maybe there was something else keeping him here, in his laboratory…

A moment later Adeline and Heavy heard hurried footsteps and soon after Medic opened the door. He looked first at Heavy and then on Adeline and his eyebrows raised in surprise. And then he smiled jovially.

“Ah, _ein Mädchen_!” He extended his covered in blood hand towards her. “I didn’t know zat Mann Co. employs women. Vell, maybe aside of the Administrator.”

“And Miss Pauling.” Heavy pointed out.

“_Ja_, and Miss Pauling.” Medic nodded.

Technically he should have known she was a girl earlier, when she called to him through the closed door… but that wasn’t important right now. Right now Adeline was taken aback by how _normal_ Medic seemed to be; how nice and friendly he was. One could easily forget that this man was a mad scientist who made a deal with the devil; that this man was experimenting on his teammates and treated Hippocrates’ Oath very loosely. The only indication of that – at this moment when Medic was standing right there with his hand extended for a shake – was the blood on said hand.

“Ah, _Enschuldingung_.” He added after some time of Adeline’s lack of response and wiped his hand on his pants before outstretching it again. “Don’t vorry! It’s only a monkey blood!”

Adeline realized her mistake and smiled back.

“Pleased to meet you, doctor.” She said, shaking his hand. “I’ve heard a lot of things about you.”

“Now,” He let go of the shake. “zhere was something you vanted to discuss with me.”

“Yes, I would like to talk in private.”

“Ah, I see.” He moved aside, inviting her to his medbay. “I hope zis won’t take long. I have experiment zat needs my attention.”

“I will be nearby when you finish.” Heavy said to Adeline and sat on one of the seats on the waiting room. “Then we will go to cafeteria together.”

“Okay, see ya!” She replied and waved to him. Then she turned away and entered Medic’s laboratory.

It looked like a mixture of medical office and surgery room… but there was also a big gun connected to a white backpack, resting in the corner. On the operating table there was some kind of bloody mess of organs and machinery the Medic quickly came back to (Adeline felt sick in her stomach, looking at it). Adeline’s eyes quickly averted from her surroundings to a single white pigeon flying to Medic and sitting on his shoulder. The man smiled to the little creature and petted it tenderly. Soon after that Adeline noticed other pigeons sitting in various places of the room and observing her with little, beady eyes.

“We have a guest, Archimedes.” Medic cooed to the bird on his shoulder and then turned to Adeline, saying a bit more matter-of-factly: “I didn’t catch your name.”

“Adeline.” She introduced herself.

He came back to whatever he was doing at the table and, not looking at her, asked:

“You wanted to talk about something, _ja_?”

The time has come. She had to play it right, if she wanted to know the truth.

“As I said, I want to straighten up certain misunderstanding.” She began. “This is more important than you think, doctor. In fact, it might be even a matter of life and death.”

He once again turned away from his experiment and looked at her. The mild surprise on his face changed into smirk as he came back to work and replied:

“Sounds menacing.”

Adeline smiled to her thoughts, but then she saddened.

“I know that you died and came back to life…” She began. “I also know what you’ve seen after you died. And what you did before you came back.”

For the third time doctor stopped what he was doing and looked back at his guest. This time, however, Archimedes was looking at her too.

“And vat exactly was zat?” Medic asked a moment later.

“You were in Hell, doctor.” Was Adeline’s reply. She said it like she was just stating the fact and the doctor in front of her was staring at her calmly, probably wondering how to respond. She decided to go on: “You were in Hell and the devil wanted to take your soul. But you’ve outsmarted him and came back to life. Moreover,” She smiled lightly. “you’ve brought a nice pen from there.”

He was still staring at her in silence. She could almost read his mind. He was wondering how did she know about all of this and – more importantly – if she was a threat to him. He was staring at her for a longer moment, before he suddenly grinned.

“Oh, I get it, _Frau_ Adeline.” He started. “You’re from down zere, are you? Vell, tell the devil that I’m going to live 50 more years, just as ve both agreed on.”

“Actually, I’m not from down there,” Adeline started, pointing at the ground. “But from up there.” She turned her finger up. “And I’m here to help you.”

Medic smirked again.

“Ah, so you vant to save my soul? Bring salvation to a lost lamb before it’s too late?”

Adeline got serious.

“Something like that. But the problem is far more complicated than you think.”

As she was saying this, Archimedes flew away from Medic’s shoulder and sat on Adeline’s lap. This view made the man’s eyebrows raise in surprise. Adeline, on the other hand, started to gently pet the pigeon, which also surprised the Medic.

“There is someone who wants to use what happened that day against you…”

And so she started to explain to Medic the nature of Saturninus.

* * *

Sniper decided to take his new rifle from Mann Co. delivery truck and see how it presents itself. He already put it together and it certainly was a thing of beauty – a true masterpiece of gunsmithing. Sniper wanted to try it as soon as possible. He was sitting on his own, next to his van, away from others who also were playing with their new toys. He wanted to be alone.

Suddenly Sniper’s senses registered a presence he did not recognize. He quickly stood up, loaded the rifle and pointed it at the direction, he sensed the presence from. He was observing his surroundings through the lunette on his new rifle, but he didn’t find anybody. Still not putting his rifle down (just in case), he wondered if he was getting paranoid after all these years. “Well, sometimes it was better to be safe than sorry.” That was what his Pa used to say.

And as he was standing there, looking for any danger, he heard it.

“The most dangerous man in the world.”

A slithering, hissing voice… Not far away but right next to his ear. Sniper immediately turned back and moved his rifle to his left side, when he suspected to see the mysterious intruder. However, he saw only buildings.

“Dangerous because he saw what’s waiting for him on the other side.” The voice continued, but this time it seemed to be on Sniper’s right, so he turned there next. “Dangerous, because he doesn’t fear death.”

Sniper got the allusion. This was what he said soon after he got resurrected. There weren’t many people to witness his boast so for a moment he was putting into consideration that maybe he was just imagining things in the middle of the hot climate of New Mexico.

Suddenly a silhouette appeared couple of meters away from him. It seemed to be a man wearing long black cape, covering his figure, while the face was hidden behind white, emotionless mask that kind of reminded Sniper of carnival in Venice. The mysterious person was also wearing black hat with wide brim.

Sniper thought fast – he shot to the stranger… but even though, he was aiming at his head, it seemed that he missed. Which was weird because Sniper almost never missed.

“I’m warning you, mate,” He said, still aiming at the man. “Go away.”

“And the reason you’re not afraid of death,” The stranger went on. “is that in death you will be reunited with your adoptive parents. People who loved and cared about you, but were taken away from you by Gray Mann’s goons.”

_Well, fucker, I warned you…_

Sniper shoot once again, and once again he aimed for the head. But interestingly enough the bullet bounced back from the white mask. Sniper’s reaction wasn’t surprise or even terror. No, it was annoyance. Because he knew that if some dude with strange abilities was coming to him, weird shit was going to go down.

“Okay,” He started, “who the hell are you and what do you want?”

“I only want to talk. After all, not many people come back from dead.” The stranger continued. “It must be really interesting experience.”

For some reason his voice was making Sniper nervous. It wasn’t as much the sound of said voice, but something on much deeper level. Some primal fear somewhere inside of Sniper. Something which couldn’t be entirely dismissed or ignored by years of training.

“Well, I don’t want to talk about it with someone like _you_.” Sniper replied quickly.

“You were miraculously resurrected from dead, thanks to your field medic.” The stranger continued. “Of course, he wasn’t entirely on your side back then.”

Sniper frowned. He didn’t want to go back to that moment when he woke up from meeting Ma and Pa in Heaven, only to realize he was lying on Medic’s operating table. Especially because the last thing he saw before death was Medic’s smirking standing next to the enemy Sniper. Sniper was, obviously, pissed at the doctor but they somehow resolved this little misunderstanding that happened back then. Nevertheless, Sniper didn’t like to think about that moment very much.

Sniper wanted to shoot but found himself unable to move. He actually couldn’t believe that he was paralyzed by fear. After all, he was a professional. One weird guy shouldn’t make him feel that way.

And yet here they were.

“Tell me, mister Mundee, how do you know that next time you die, you will get to see your parents again? After all,” he suddenly materialized on Sniper’s left and whispered to his ear: “thanks to your Medic, you’re now an abomination against laws of nature. Do you seriously believe that a freak like you can go back to Heaven?”

The stranger disappeared and Sniper could move again. He wasn’t entirely sure what just happened.

* * *

“I see.” Medic said when Adeline explained everything to him.

He was observing her with interest for a few seconds in silence and Adeline was observing him too, waiting for his response. He seemed to think intensively about what he just heard, like he was weighting all the possibilities. Occasionally his gaze was landing on Archimedes, who was still sitting on Adeline’s lap.

“I believe you.” He said finally. Then he crossed his arms and added: “Ze question right now is: Vat do we do?”

Adeline took a deep breath. She decided it was the right moment to get to the topic she wanted to talk about from the very beginning.

“There is something I need to know.” She gave him a serious look. “I can’t help you, if I won’t know the truth; if I don’t get the bigger picture.”

“And vat it zat you vant to know?” Medic gazed at her with mild interest, his arms still crossed.

“I need to know why.” She replied. “Why did you sell your soul? And why did you took the souls of your comrades?”

He smiled widely.

“Have you ever heard of _Faust_, _Frau_ Adeline?”

“Of course.” She replied.

“Zen you vill understand.”

She actually understood. To some extent, it was pretty obvious.

“I vanted to do things no other doctor could do. Only ze devil could give me zis.”

Adeline observed him for a longer moment. He seemed to be pretty straightforward about it, but she felt in her guts that there was something more. Something he wasn’t telling her.

“And what about the others?”

“Well,” Medic smiled again but this time his smile seemed to be sadder. “zere is a lot I vant to do. I can’t just abandon my research. Speaking of vhich…” he turned back to his experiment on the operating table. Still, while working on it, he was continuing his reasoning: “You don’t even imagine, _Frau_ Adeline, how important is my work… Back in Hell, I vanted to go back on Earth because of all the things I needed to do. Zat is vhy I bargained 50 more years of life.” He chuckled to himself. “Now, I’m not sure if even zat vill be enough.”

Adeline listened to his speech and started to wonder if maybe there was something more to those words than met the eye… Or maybe she was desperately trying to find any redeeming qualities in this man. Maybe she wanted to see something that wasn’t there, because otherwise, how was she going to save him?

“What about Heavy?” She asked suddenly and Medic stopped for a moment at the mention of his friend. Adeline inquired further: “Do you want him to be condemned in Hell forever?”

He shot her a cold stare, before he started to laugh in a way some people could describe as evil.

“Oh, _Frau_ Adeline, you obviously don’t know anyone vho stays here.”

That was a really interesting thing he just said. And its interpretation could vary. Either way, Adeline came to conclusion that maybe she needed to observe the mercenaries closely. Maybe when she see how they actually operate, she would know how to handle them.

“One last thing, doctor…” She began, standing up from her seat (meanwhile Archimedes flew away from her lap at first sudden movement on her part).

“_Ja_?” He asked.

“You should tell the others what happened. Before they will find out from someone else.”

He looked at her and then came back straight to his experiment.

“I vill think about it.”

Well, maybe that was good enough. Adeline decided it was a right moment to leave him to his own devices.

“See you soon, doctor.” She said, putting her hand on the doorknob.

He gave her one last, rather sympathetic gaze and replied:

“_Auf Widersehen, Frau Adeline._”

Medic put his full attention to his experiment and Adeline left the medbay. Just as he promised, Heavy was waiting for her and they went to the cafeteria.

* * *

Medic felt a sudden weight on his shoulder as Archimedes landed on it. The doctor smiled to him and petted the bird gently. He quickly saddened, remembering the older Heavy crushed the poor pigeon in act of rage. Medic managed to bring his feathered friend back to life, but the fact that this other Heavy dared to hurt him, was the straw that broke the camel’s back. His old team would never do such a horrible thing. That was the moment when he realized that the Team Fortress Classic was never truly his companions and that this other Heavy had to die.

He came back to the conversation he just had with Adeline. One thing that he found really interesting about the girl was that once Archimedes rested on her lap, she was treating him very tenderly. That was a good indication that maybe she could be trusted.

Medic looked at his experiment and shook his head. Suddenly he wasn’t feeling like finishing it. So he just put it back to fridge to go back to it later. Right now he had too much on his head, anyway.

He wasn’t aware that someone was observing him from the distance.


	3. Little things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I really tried to make everyone IC, but I'm afraid I didn't get Sniper just right.
> 
> Please, review.

Once they entered the cafeteria (or rather – a kitchen-like room that passed for the cafeteria), Adeline noticed that most of the mercenaries were already there. Demoman and Soldier were talking enthusiastically about their new weapons, while Engineer and Pyro played cards in the corner. Spy and Scout were the only ones actually eating something – Spy delighted himself with caviar and wine, and Scout was munching on a fried chicken from a KFC bucket. The contrast between the two – both in their respective meals and table manners – was so jarring that Adeline had hard time to remember that they were actually father and son.

“You could behave yourself, you know.” Spy commented in not very subtle whisper. “I thought we’ve already covered dinner etiquette, when you were trying to impress Miss Pauling.”

“I’m not… chomp, chomp… going to… chomp, chomp… eat KFC… chomp, chomp… with fork and knife, old man.” Scout respond in breaks between one bite and another. He swallowed chicken bite and added: “That would be ridiculous.”

“Well, some people use fork and knife to cut chicken legs. You could try it sometimes.” Spy pointed out.

“Yeah, in Ritz Hotel. In the shithole in the middle of nowhere nobody cares about how the fuck I’m eating my chicken.”

“Well, I do. Because frankly, it’s disgusting.”

“Hey,” Heavy suddenly spoke to Adeline, quietly, but loud enough to take her attention away from the arguing pair. Adeline turned to him and he asked: “You have your own lunch?”

“Oh…“ Adeline realized that she didn’t take her lunchbox. She smiled awkwardly and replied: “It’s in my truck. I forgot to bring it.”

“Never mind. I will give you my sandvich.” Heavy replied.

This statement didn’t seem to escape attention of Scout, who elbowed Spy and whispered something to him.

“No, no, you don’t have to.” Adeline said. “I’m good.”

“Take the sandvich, miss.” Engineer didn’t even take his gaze away from his cards. “Don’t worry, it’s not poisoned.”

For some reason, at this moment Soldier finally realized Adeline’s presence and decided to speak up:

“Why is this civilian still in my military base?!”

“Oi, leave the lass alone. She brought us weapons!” Demoman scolded him.

“Don’t mind Soldier. He’s an idiot.” Heavy said and added: “Do you want a sandvich or not?”

Adeline thought about it for the moment. She felt how the other mercenaries were eyeing her, more or less subtly. She wondered if there was any specific reason for this.

“Okay.” She said finally, smiling cheerily.

“Good.” Heavy replied. “Sit down, I will bring it to you.”

Adeline sat at the table, while her host went to the fridge and took out a sandwich on a plate. She noticed that other mercenaries were still watching her. This was rather awkward because she wanted to observe them in their natural habitat, but considering the situation, it would be hard. Therefore she spoke:

“Don’t mind me, gentlemen. Just imagine I’m not here.”

“Pardon us.” Engineer explained with friendly smile. “It’s just delivery people usually don’t stay for lunch.”

“I understand.” She returned the smile.

Soon the sandwich was right in front of Adeline. She put it up and after examining it for a few seconds, she finally took a bite. It tasted good. In fact, it had perfect balance of everything. Heavy knew how to make a sandwich.

He seemed to observe her with some kind of expectation. She immediately understood what he was waiting for.

“It’s perfect.” She told him and even gave him a thumbs up.

“Good.” He replied with wide grin.

“Heavy has a girlfriend!” Scout sang mockingly, which immediately warranted him a response from a very not amused Spy:

“How old are you? Five?”

“Look, everybody in this room knows Heavy likes redheads and this one seems to like him back. I only said out loud what others think.”

“Shut up, little man.” Heavy told him. “Or I will break your legs and you will be useless.”

“You will have to catch me first, fat man.”

“I won’t have to.” Heavy’s mouth formed an evil smile. “I will shoot you in the kneecaps.”

“Again, only if you catch me. And I’m like an unstoppable force of nature.”

Spy put his utensils down and looked at his son.

“Do you ever _listen_ to yourself?”

“Of course, he doesn’t.” Demoman scoffed. “He would need at least one functioning brain cell to know what he’s bubbling about. Kinda like Soldier.”

This, on the other hand, warranted a scolding from Soldier:

“This is insubordination! How dare you insult your commanding officer?!”

Adeline smiled and replied:

“He’s probably only teasing you. Like a friend.”

“Krauts at Normandy were also teasing me. And then I’ve single-handily kicked their asses in the name of United States of America!”

Adeline chuckled to herself. She suspected that she will see something like that. If a small group of men was in each other’s company for a long period of time, sooner or later their relations looked more or less like that. Especially with personalities like that.

Suddenly the door opened and Sniper entered the cafeteria. While others were still talking and joking, he moved awkwardly to the kitchen and started to prepare himself a cup of coffee in a _#1 Sniper_ mug. His comrades probably shrugged it under Sniper acting like a loner again… but right when he showed up, Adeline _knew_. She knew because Sniper seemed to be ashamed of something; he was shaken.

Once his coffee was ready, he took the mug and left without anyone bating an eye. Adeline decided she needed to talk with him. Therefore she stood up and with a polite smile said:

“Excuse me, gentlemen. I have to check something with my truck.”

Everybody seemed to believe her… well maybe besides Heavy who gave her a meaningful look. Adeline returned it and said soundlessly:

“I will explain later.”

He only nodded with understanding. She went out to get Sniper.

* * *

Sniper was on the watchtower, with mug in a hand and eyes on the view outside. He still thought about the encounter earlier and deliberated whenever he should tell others about it or not. The key problem here was that he wasn’t entirely sure if what happened to him was real or not. He also wasn’t ready to talk about the fact that the intruder made him freeze. Especially because he didn’t understand it either.

He could still hear the hissing voice in his mind…

_The most dangerous man in the world… Dangerous because he saw what’s waiting for him on the other side. Dangerous, because he doesn’t fear death…_

Sniper remembered perfectly what he said soon after he reconciled with Medic. The problem was that Medic was the only one who witnessed Sniper’s speech about being the most dangerous man alive.

_Tell me, mister Mundee, how do you know that next time you die, you will get to see your parents again?_

And he was pretty sure that he only told Medic about what he saw in the afterlife. The RED Team didn’t have much visitors since they left the Gray’s island so, really, Sniper didn’t know what to think about this.

“Ah, mister Mundee there you are.” A female voice brought him back to present.

The delivery girl was climbing to the watchtower. Once her head was about the tower’s floor, she gave Sniper friendly smile and said:

“How do you like your new rifle?”

For a moment he was silent, just observing her, sipping coffee from his mug. She got into the tower and sat on the floor.

“You shouldn’t be here.” He said finally, moving his gaze to the view down there. “In fact, what are you still doing here? Don’t you have other deliveries to make?”

“Hey, everyone needs a break. I was in that truck for quite some time. Don’t blame a girl for wanting to straighten her legs, eat lunch and talk with somebody.”

He raised his eyebrows, taking another sip of coffee.

“Fair enough.” He replied finally.

She gave him a light smile and Sniper got the impression that she was a really nice girl. What a girl like that was doing in employment of Mann Co., it was a mystery. Then again, some people probably would say that Miss Pauling was a nice girl.

“You like solitude, mister Mundee, don’t you?” The delivery girl said suddenly, still with the same smile.

Normally he would tell her to go away, but for some reason he didn’t. For some reason he just replied:

“Yeah, kind of. I’ve spent most of my life alone in the wilderness.”

“It sounds rather lonely.” She pointed out. “Don’t you have someone you’re close to?”

Again, normally he would find these questions annoying, if not outright nosy… but there was something about this girl that made him want to talk. Something familiar, something… warm.

“I’ve had parents. But they were killed.”

Maybe he just wanted to tell it to someone. Someone outside of the team.

“I’m sorry.” The girl gave him a sympathetic look.

“Don’t be.” This time it was he who smiled friendly. “I’ve got to see them one last time. I was shot and met them in the afterlife. You know,” He saddened. “I was so happy there. I felt… at peace.” He gave a soft sigh. “And surrounded by love. I’m fairly certain that this had to be Heaven.”

“Maybe it was.” She said.

Sniper put the mug down and turned to his interlocutor.

“Well, our Medic says it was a hallucination. But I don’t believe him. He’s man of science and all that crap…”

“So how is that you’re still amongst the living?”

_After all, thanks to your Medic, you’re now an abomination against laws of nature. Do you seriously believe that a freak like you can go back to Heaven?_

Sniper once again remembered his sudden awaking and the anger he felt back then. But this time he _wanted_ to talk about it with a stranger.

“Our Medic… well… back then he wasn’t ours, _per se_… he resurrected me. He’s known here for doing miracles like this.”

“But you wished this miracle never happened. You wished to stay there forever.”

“No, not at all. See, Ms.… sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”

She smiled to him friendly.

“Adeline.”

“Well, Adeline, you see, my parents told me that there was a work to do. Many bad people who needed to be put down. I pride myself to be a professional. And what kind of professional rests when there’s work waiting for him? This is basically what my Pa said in Heaven.”

“I see.”

They were both quiet for a moment. Sniper felt that there was something else Adeline wanted to ask about. Moreover, he found himself wanting to know what was it.

“How about your teammates?” She finally spoke and stopped smiling.

“What about them?”

“Well, you fight alongside with them for couple of years now. Warriors can be quite close.”

“That’s true. They can be.”

“Soooo, are you friends with somebody here?”

He needed a moment to think about it. He remembered how he was constantly fighting with Spy, how he was annoyed by Scout’s antics, how he wanted to kill and burry Demoman in shallow grave after he broke into his house… And he remembered how he wanted to kill Medic for betraying them and being on the Team Fortress Classic, when Sniper got shot. On the other hand, he also remembered how he witnessed Spy saying goodbye to his dying son; how Medic resurrected him just because he wanted to; how each and one of those men helped him at one point or another, and how he himself was helping them.

“I guess, it’s complicated.” He said finally. “Sometimes I get the feeling that we are a band of brothers, and sometimes like we are each other’s worst enemies.”

“I’d like to think it’s the former.” She replied and Sniper could see some kind of sadness in her eyes. “There are things on this world one person can’t defeat on their own. And I think that you may have encountered one of them.”

Sniper’s eyebrows raised in surprise.

“Do you have anything particular in mind?”

“Yes, in fact, I do. You may not believe me, and I will understand if you don’t, mister Mundee… but just listen to me, please.”

And so she told him about Saturninus – a demon that is feeding itself on betrayal, hate, resentment and pain; a demon that always chooses one target and tries to turn everyone they’re close to against them. The more Adeline was telling him about Saturninus, the more Sniper was certain that the mysterious intruder he saw earlier was the demon himself. It all seemed to fall into place.

“And you think that Saturninus is after one of us.” He concluded.

“Yes.” She nodded.

_Of course, he wasn’t entirely on your side back then…_

_…you’re now an abomination against laws of nature._

“Medic.” A sudden realization hit him. “He’s after Medic.” Sniper turned to Adeline and asked: “But why? Because he experimented on us? If so, it’s not such a big of a deal. Everyone here has a crazy streak inside. And besides, Medic saved us multiple times.”

“Glad you look at it that way.” Adeline, once again, smiled friendly… but then she got serious. “Anyways, Medic and Heavy already know about the danger, but it would be better if you inform others.”

“Of course… but why can’t _you_ do it?”

“Let’s just say that I know what happens when people don’t believe me. Also, I’m not one of you. For example, will Soldier or Spy trust me, if I tell them about a demon feeding on their negative emotions? I’m just a civilian, a delivery girl.”

“No, you’re not.” Sniper said. “Who are you, really?”

She grinned and then stood up.

“Isn’t it obvious, mister Mundee? I’m a professional like you. But my job is to save people, not to kill them.”

Sniper looked at her and immediately understood. Few things about Adeline became clear instantly – why she seemed to be so familiar to him and why he wanted to share personal information with her.

“Well, I have to leave now.” She said unexpectedly and got on the ladder. “There are couple of things I need to do.”

She started to climb down but Sniper spoke, all of a sudden:

“Sorry once again about the jarate.”

Adeline stopped and looked at him.

“Ah, no problemo, mate!” She replied, grinning widely. “See ya soon.”

And just like that, she left. Sniper was observing her going back to the main base, and he wondered how to break the news about Saturninus to others.

* * *

After explaining everything to Heavy and taking back her bag from locker room, it was time to go. After all, technically she had few other deliveries to make. However, she was still going to monitor the situation with mercs and come back to them as soon as possible.

Adeline got into her truck and turn on the ignition, when she felt a familiar presence.

“What do you want, Saturninus?”

“Why do you even bother?” The hissing voice said to her ear. “They’re bunch of insane, bloodthirsty murderers who committed unspeakable sins. They’re not worth saving. Especially you-know-who.”

“You’re wrong. As always.”

“They may seem polite… Hell, they may even be friendly… but it doesn’t change the fact that they are horrible people. They’re psychopaths who enjoy carnage all too well. You wish them to be something more than that, but they’re not.”

Adeline clenched her fists on the steering wheel of her truck.

“There is some good in them. Nobody is 100% evil. Except of you, maybe.”

“Oh, poor, little Adeline!” Saturninus laughed mockingly. “You have to believe in goodness of people you are sent to protect from me. Even if you know very well, there is no goodness to begin with.”

“You’re wrong…” She began, but immediately realized she was alone again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I've said earlier that I don't want to make Adeline's someone's love interest, but I've learned that according to Poker Night at the Inventory Heavy likes redheads, so I thought maybe I should address it somehow.
> 
> I've also tried to not focus on Adeline too much (as I said earlier - this isn't story about her) but it kind of turn out like this anyway, so I hope it, at least, feels organic.


	4. Late night conversations with monsters.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I had barely any ideas for this chapter. Yeah, there were things I was planning to include in this fic either way (like all the literary allusions; I actually started to read certain book again for this fic), and some of them ended here, but other than that, I was improvising.
> 
> Therefore I'm open for suggestions for what should happen next.

Spy needed a smoke, and when he needed a smoke he was coming to his smoking room. He pondered having a glass of porto too, but decided against that. He much rather preferred to keep it for a more celebrational occasion. Still, he sat in his armchair, took a cigarette and lit it up. Then his eyes rested on the empty fireplace before him.

Soon after this new delivery girl left, Sniper came in, gathered everyone in the strategy room and told them about his strange encounter outside. When he finished, Heavy added few other details too. Their story was definitely odd, but considering the things that were happening to the team often, Spy was ready to believe that some demon-like, feeding on the pain, resentment and betrayal creature was after them and wanted to turn them against their Medic… or that their new delivery girl is actually an angel (well, after Merasmus everything was the game).

His teammates were in a very fighting mood. Most of them were ready to kick Saturninus’ ass the moment they’d see him (Medic himself seemed to take the news as lightly as others, even though it was all about him). Some part of Spy was feeling exactly the same… but his other part was worried. Sniper and Heavy seemed to had some grasp of who actually they were up against… however, it appeared that they too, missed one small detail…

Saturninus’ target was Medic and, according to what Adeline told Sniper and Heavy, the demon was determined to make them all to turn against the man. Now, Medic could be described by many things: genius, eccentric, madman… It was true that he was keeping them alive on the battlefield, but at the same time his grasp of Hippocratic Oath left something to be desired. Frankly, there were things about this man Spy didn’t know about and he suspected that Medic was holding many, _many_ dark secrets, for one reason or the other.

And what was the best way to turn people against someone? Simple – exposing the darkest secret of that someone.

So Spy was now sitting in his smoking room, wondering what kind of dark secret of Medic was going to be exposed by Saturninus. He tried to imagine the most horrible thing the guy was capable of. Obviously one could make a connection between a German mad scientist specializing in surgical human experiments; and doctor Mengele. However, everybody in RED Team knew that Medic wasn’t a Nazi (his methods were far more crazy for Nazis and, surprisingly, Nazis were far too crazy for him). Then there was the subject of experiments themselves – was it possible that Medic did something to his teammates that they didn’t know about? Probably. Was it so vile it would become a straw that breaks camel’s back? Hard to tell, considering the past experiences of the team.

Suddenly Spy felt cold breeze in the room. If it wasn’t for the past September encounters, he would think it was just wind, but after so many attacks from Merasmus, he grew to recognize if what he felt was but a simple movement of air, or something much more supernatural. This was definitely not a wind.

And so a moment later Spy was met with a presence resembling the one described earlier by Sniper. The Frenchman even felt fear slowly rising inside of him.

“_Ich bin ein Teil von jener Kraft, die stets das Böse will…_”

Spy’s knowledge of German almost automatically put meaning into demon’s words. Spy’s knowledge of literature added some more meaning into it.

“You forgot the second part.” He said, trying to remain calm and collected despite the dread that arose in him when he heard the voice of Saturninus. “Without it, the quote loses its edge.”

“Indeed. Come to think of it, it’s like a reversal of saying that Hell is paved in good intentions.” He took few steps towards the fireplace and leaned on it. “Tell me, _monsieur_, do you believe that you are a good person?”

Spy scoffed.

“No, not at all.” He replied. “No one in this place is really a good person. We are bunch of murderers for hire. And pretty fine with it. So if you want to make us all feel bad about our actions, you may as well just go away and don’t bother.”

“Oh, you don’t even know how tasty you all are.” Saturninus hissed in a very pleased manner. “You are not a real team, not really. Every single one of you at some point betrayed the other. Especially you, Spy. You know a thing or two about backstabbing your comrades.”

Spy took the cigarette out and crashed it’s end in the ashtray. He hoped that Saturninus won’t notice his shaking hand.

“Ah, but you forget one simple fact.” He looked nonchalantly at the demon in front of him. “We don’t treat these little betrayals like a big deal. And from what I gathered, you need something more substantial to feed yourself with. You need pain, resentment, drama… You need broken friendships, seething hatred, all that theatrical stuff, _n’est pas_? You won’t get it here. We are group of professionals, not some kind of boy club. We are doing our job and later we will go home, never to see each other again.” Spy drew out another cigarette, lit it up and puffed out a smoke. “I couldn’t care less about Medic, Heavy, Soldier or anyone else on this team. And they couldn’t care less about me.”

“Oh, but, _monsieur_ Spy, you and I both know that there are things one just cannot forgive. Crimes that have to be punished no matter what.” Saturninus stopped leaning on the fireplace. Suddenly he appeared behind Spy and whispered into his right ear: “Do you really know your comrades all that well to assume neither one of them committed such crimes?” Suddenly he moved to the other ear. “If you knew what I know, you would kill Medic yourself with bare hands. And if little Jeremy knew what I know, he would kill _you_.”

Spy felt weird pang of sadness at the mention of Scout. Nevertheless, he tried to not show it to Saturninus, who, once again, appeared in front of the fireplace.

“I don’t really care what this punk thinks of me. He may try to kill me, if he wishes to.”

“And you will kill him first.”

An image flashed before Spy’s eyes. An image of Scout’s lifeless body lying in Spy’s arms.

“This time, however, he won’t go to Heaven.” Saturninus went on. “Heaven doesn’t await for any one of you. Thanks to your Medic.”

And, just like that, Spy was once again alone in his smoking room. For a moment he was just sitting in his armchair, thinking about what just transpired. He could put together all the little allusions of Saturninus into one conclusion, in fact, it wasn’t hard because the demon wasn’t very subtle about it. The thought itself was outlandish… then again Medic was capable of raising the dead. It wasn’t as far-fetched to imagine him doing other things like that.

Now, the question was: What to do with this information?

* * *

Heavy was reading a thick book in Russian, printed on a cheap paper. So far it was quite captivating and funny, with a strong satire against Soviet Union from Stalin’s reign for a good measure. But what was a more intriguing was the philosophical part. The author was using characters marvelously to convey his own views and truths on the world and state he was living in.

“Vhat are you reading, Heavy?” He heard doctor’s voice.

Heavy looked up to see Medic coming closer to the bench where the Russian was sitting. Heavy smiled to his friend and quickly showed him the cover.

“_The Master and Margarita_.” He explained and put the book down. “Adeline gave it to me, before she left.”

“Ah, _Frau_ Adeline…” Medic smirked and sat next to him on the bench. “Vhat do you think of her?”

“She’s here to help. And we shouldn’t underestimate her warnings. Especially after what Sniper had told us.”

Medic looked at space before them and was silent for a moment. It seemed like something was on his mind.

“Don’t worry, doctor!” Heavy said to him and patted his back jovially. “We will keep you safe.”

But Medic didn’t seem to be reassured, nevertheless, he smiled lightly to his friend, before he saddened.

“Heavy,” He began. “do you trust me?”

“Yes, of course, doctor!” Heavy said almost immediately. “You saved me so many times, I trust you with my life.”

Medic smiled lightly, but then this smile weakened.

“Vould you trust me, no matter what? No matter vhat I vould do?”

Heavy looked at his friend and he remembered what Adeline told him about Saturninus:

_Generally he targets one particular person that did something really bad and he makes their closed ones hate them…_

Heavy put his hand on Medic’s shoulder.

“Doctor, you did many bad things in your life. Many of them were also done to us and frankly we don’t care all that much at this point. These bad things eventually led to good things, after all.”

But as soon as he said those words, he remembered something else.

_“Now, I probably should talk with Medic. There something I need to ask him.”_

_“What exactly?”_

_“Pardon, my friend, but this is something he probably would like to share of his own volition. I also would rather prefer for him to tell you and others about it, than if it was revealed to you by the third party…”_

Heavy added with a friendly grin:

“Of course, if there’s something you want to tell me, I will gladly listen.”

Medic gave him a long, inspecting look, probably weighting his options. But, eventually, he moved his eyes to the space in front of them and said:

“Never mind. It’s nothing you and I can’t handle.”

For a moment he was just sitting in silence, before he decided to change the subject:

“Vhat’s zis book about, exactly?”

“Well,” Heavy began. “basically it’s about the devil and his minions coming to Soviet Russia and wreaking havoc. There’s a lot of funny situations that happen, for example, in the first chapter there are these two guys from literature club and they discuss theology, because one of them was asked to write anti-religious poem and the other one thinks it’s too tame. Then they meet the devil who gets into the discussion with them too.”

For a moment Heavy could notice some kind of uneasiness in Medic’s presence. Like, something about the book made him uncomfortable. Heavy thought that it had to have something to do with the demon going after them.

Nevertheless it lasted only couple of seconds, because Medic said right after that:

“And he argues zat faith in God is obsolete in this day and age?”

“No, no, no.” Heavy replied. “The devil argues that God exist and wants to convince the second guy about that.”

Medic raised his eyebrows.

“Really? I thought zat devil vould much rather prefer for humanity to believe neither in God, nor in him. After all, Charles Baudelaire said: ‘The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.’”

“Oh, but here he asks the second guy to at least admit that the devil exist. The guy refuses. Anyway, in the end he gets his head cut by tram train. And this is just the beginning, because then the devil messes around with people of Moscow in various ways, exposing their weaknesses of character.”

“Oh, I see.” Medic smiled. “It’s zis type of book. Funny zat an angel vants you to read a book vhere ze devil isn’t all zat bad.”

“I’m surprised too,” Heavy responded. “but I suspect that she has some kind of purpose in it.”

“I guess so.” Medic admitted.

Another moment of them both just sitting in silence, and then Medic stood up and looked at Heavy.

“I’ll leave you with your book, zen.”

Heavy abruptly raised from his seat and said:

“Don’t go, doctor. You’re not disturbing me or anything.”

“No, it’s not zat.” Medic turned to him. “It’s getting late and I’m really tired. Zat’s it.”

“Okay, then.” Heavy replied and quickly added with friendly smile: “Have a peaceful night, doctor.”

Medic smiled back.

“And you too, _mein Freund_.”

And so Medic left. Heavy was staring at the closed door, before he reluctantly returned to his book. Nevertheless, he had hard time focusing on the plot, because his mind was constantly coming back to his friend. It was obvious that something was bothering him and, honestly, Heavy wondered what exactly Medic was hiding.

* * *

It was a really eventful day. Not that eventful days in Teufort were rare, and comparing to what they went through recently, it wasn’t even in the first top twenty most eventful days in their lives. Yet it managed to made Medic a bit awry about what will happen soon.

While he was preparing to sleep, fragments of certain conversation were flashing in his mind.

_I’ve been looking through your file. You’ve been real _monster_ up there…_

One could see him that way and, really, he didn’t mind the name all that much. Maybe he really _was_ a monster, considering the things he was doing to others. On the other hand, the true discoveries of science were always obtained by disregarding the contemporary morals.

_Honestly, you probably would have ended up here either way. I feel silly that we even bothered with a contact…_

To be fair, Medic never thought much about his soul. From purely empiric standpoint, it probably didn’t exist, anyway, and he always was focusing mostly on his life on Earth. The supposed afterlife didn’t interest him in the slightest.

_I’d say you got the better of us on this one._

Maybe that’s why selling a soul seemed like a natural course of action. The devil would get his supposed soul, and Medic will get vast opportunities he probably wouldn’t get in more mundane circumstances. He knew he was a bad person and, honestly, he didn’t care, so why should he go to Hell without any benefits along the way?

_Still, a deal’s a deal, and here you are. I’m sure you will find the paperwork in order. If you could just initial by your original signature, we’ll get you out of here and on your way to Hell._

Back then, when he died and was standing in front of the devil, he felt that the consequences of his actions caught up to him in a spectacular way. First he was killed by Classic Heavy, and then the devil came for what he bargained for. However, Medic had a plan and he only needed to execute it flawlessly to come back.

_“Yes, let’s see… Now _this_ is interesting. Here in article nine, section seven it says that the contract is _only_ biding if you own _a majority stake_ on my soul… so…”_

_“But we own _all_ of your soul. You _sold_ it to us.”_

_“Ah, originally, yes, that was the case. But you see, I’ve since surgically added eight more…”_

It was a tricky part to sew the other souls to his own, but he gradually perfected the technique. Science and magic were surprisingly similar in some regards and he quickly learned a thing or two about necromancy. The procedure had few interesting side effects. Sometimes he was really amazed by himself. Of course, the devil wasn’t happy about it, but Medic managed to come back to life and win 50 more years of life.

Finally Medic put on the upper part of his pajamas and went to bed. He closed his eyes waited for sleep to come.

“I should have known that you will sleep like a baby.” A strange voice, hissed into his ear.

Medic abruptly jumped out of the bed and started to look for some kind of a weapon. Before he found any, a dark presence materialized in front of him and soon a man with white mask and wearing all black appeared. For some reason Medic found himself unable to move.

“Ah, _Herr_ Saturninus, I presume.” Medic said, trying to remain calm.

“Ruthless, remorseless, sadistic.” Saturninus went on. “Only someone like you could have scammed Satan himself to escape Hell. Only someone like you could take the souls of his teammates to save his own skin. You know,” The demon took two steps towards Medic. “the Classic Heavy was right: you really are a coward.”

Medic gave his guest a cold glare at the mention of his former boss.

“Ah, I’ve pushed a button, haven’t I?”

“It doesn’t matter.” Was Medic’s reply. “Zis man got vhat he deserved.”

“I guess everyone gets their comeuppance, one way or another.” Suddenly he was standing behind Medic and whispered to his ear: “I wonder how your teammates react on the news. They forgave you working for the Team Fortress Classic, but it’s nothing compared to eternal damnation.” He moved to the other ear: “Tell me, doctor, which one of your teammates was sold for a pen? Scout? Pyro? Spy?”

Medic turned to him and said:

“Now, zere’s no way, I vould tell you zis, is zere?”

“Oh, I already know. It was Heavy.”

Medic’s eyes widened and then he gave Saturninus another cold glare. The demon went on:

“You are a type of a man who would sell out his closest, maybe even his only real friend in this hellhole.”

Medic chuckled.

“Vhatever you’re doing, it’s not going to work. I’m not going to be afraid of you.”

Saturninus disappeared, however, soon Medic heard a familiar hiss in his ear:

“But there _are_ things, you’re afraid of, right, doctor? Even monsters are afraid of something. And, you see, my dear adversary wants to believe in you so, _so_ badly… She really wants to save you. But nobody can save you, you and I both know that. Because as much as you trust your teammates and as much as they trust you, this will all disappear, when they learn what you have done to earn 50 more years of life.”

And suddenly Medic felt he was all alone. He felt shivers down his spine, but he was able to move again. Just when he thought that everything is fine again, he noticed a writing in the big red letters above his bed:

_WE WILL… NOT BE… DENIED!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BTW - I'm really proud of the scene between Spy and Saturninus. It's one of those cool dialogues I often write in fanfics. Definately one of my best works in regard of scenes when two characters talk.


	5. ...and lways works Good

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I am on fire, people! I've posted last chapter yesterday, and now I'm giving you a new one!
> 
> I'm still open for suggestions! Wonderful ProffessorYeti gave me some, but I'm open for more.
> 
> Also, please, leave a review! I need it to live!

Spy took a decisive action: he was going to confront Medic about what he has done. Maybe Saturninus was lying, nevertheless, it was better to gather information now than wait until morning. He himself wasn’t sure what to think about this whole situation. Sometimes he didn’t even know what to think about Medic, in general, considering that the man often acted like his teammates were just guinea pigs to him. Other times he seemed to care about them and he even went to save their lives from robots back when he was on Team Fortress Classic.

There had to be a reason behind his madness. Generally this reason was science. And sometimes it was beneficial to others too. Thus the best course of action right now was to find out what it was, exactly.

So now Spy was on his way to Medic’s quarters. But suddenly he heard a female voice behind himself:

“So our little demon decided to pay you a visit.”

Spy stopped and turned back. Leaning on the wall was Adeline. The fact that she just showed up, out of nowhere, didn’t alarm him or even weirded him out.

“And how do you know about it?” Was the only thing he questioned.

“Well,” She began. “I’m tracking him often, therefore I know his _modus operandi_. He likes to pick his target’s friends when they are alone. So I assumed he will do just that as soon as I leave. He already went after Sniper, who’s most introverted of you all. Chances were that Pyro and Engineer would be hanging out with each other, the same goes for Soldier and Demoman or Medic and Heavy. And Scout likes to talk to people, so it would be hard to find him alone. So that leaves you, who often smokes in solitude.”

Spy raised his eyebrows.

“Well then, it makes sense, actually.” He took few steps towards the girl. “Still, if you can come here just like that, and you knew what was going to happen, why didn’t you do anything?”

“First of all, you were informed about the threat, weren’t you?” She replied and smiled. “Secondly, I’ve taken some prevention measures, before I left. It doesn’t look like much at the moment, but it will come in handy soon. Finally I’ve had certain business to attend to, so I couldn’t stay here for long. But now I’m here, so we can talk.”

“Okay then, let’s talk.” Spy crossed his arms. “Tell me one thing: Did Medic sold our souls to the devil?”

Adeline got serious.

“The situation is much more complicated.” She gave a soft sigh. “I think you should ask him yourself.”

“I suspected as much.” He turned away and returned to go towards Medic’s room.

Adeline went after him and soon was marching by his side.

“He’s certainly an enigmatic fella, don’t you think? Then again, most of you aren’t what you seem.”

“I don’t have time for chatter.”

“I’m just saying… I still can’t figure out anyone of you. Are you just bad guys? Or is there something deeper most people don’t see? Even yourselves?”

Spy stopped again and looked at Adeline who halted right behind him.

“We are mercenaries, plain and simple. Each and every person in this team is guilty of killing someone. Just because you’ve seen us being friendly with each other during lunch and even got a sandwich from Heavy, it doesn’t mean we are the good guys now.”

“Sooo… you’re saying that you deserve Hell?”

“What?!”

“Well, if you’re not the good guys, then you have to go to Hell, or, at the very least, to Purgatory.”

Spy raised his eyebrows.

“Wait.” He gave the girl weird look. “Purgatory is real?”

“Maaaaybe.” Adeline smiled mysteriously, but then immediately got serious. “I don’t believe that you are just mercenaries. Moreover,” She took a step closer and poked Spy’s chest with her finger. “I don’t think you believe it, either.”

Spy pushed her hand aside and said:

“You are an angel. You must believe that sinners can be saved.”

She gave him another, this time very sad smile.

“Indeed. Then again, do you want to be saved?”

Spy turned away from her and started to walk again.

“I don’t have time for this religious nonsense. I have to confront certain doctor about his recent actions.”

Of course, she went after him again. Honestly, Spy wished she would just go away, because she was slowly getting on his nerves… but on the other hand, he felt a bit more secure in her presence. He gathered that it had something to do with her being an angel and he didn’t know if he liked it or not. Nevertheless, she was silent for the rest of the trip and even when Spy knocked to Medic’s room, so he was grateful.

* * *

_WE WILL… NOT BE… DENIED!_

Medic was still observing the words written upon his bed… those chilling words that brought to mind an enraged devil demanding his victim to fulfill his end of the bargain. They reminded him about his time being dead and what probably awaited him when he will die again. He wondered if he did the right thing… if maybe he overestimated his abilities…

Suddenly a knock to his door cut his train of thought and brought him back on Earth. Medic immediately took a flask of spiritus and a cloth from his drawer and with couple of movements wiped the bloody sign off.

“Medic, it’s me, Spy.” The voice on the other side said. “I need to speak with you.”

“_Enschuldigung_.” Medic called. “I… I’m not entirely dressed.”

When he finished his work, he quickly put the cloth and spiritus back in a drawer, and only then went to open the door. To his surprise, Spy wasn’t alone. Standing next to him was Adeline, who gave Medic the wide smile. Doctor moved from her to Spy and asked:

“Vhat seems to be ze problem?”

“Medic, can we come in? There is something I want to discuss with you.”

“Mister Spy had the same visitor as you tonight.” Adeline said.

Both men looked at her with surprise.

“Vhat visitor?” Medic asked, partly to make himself sure what it meant and partly to feign ignorance.

Spy leaned closer to his face and whispered:

“The same that visited Sniper today.”

Medic didn’t know if he should let them in. Everything was telling him that it won’t be a pleasant conversation. On the other hand, when Medic looked at Adeline, the girl gave him an encouraging gesture.

Finally after a short moment of hesitation, Medic moved aside and let them in. He didn’t know why, but for some reason he thought it was a right thing to do. When they were inside his bedroom, he closed the door and turned to Spy.

“Vell, vhat happened exactly?”

“You will talk, gentlemen, and I will sit down.” Adeline said and started to walk towards Medic’s bed. “Just pretend, I’m not here.”

She sat down and Medic once again looked at Spy, who cleared his throat and started to talk:

“So I was sitting in my smoking room when Saturninus appeared, out of nowhere. Long story short, he was asking if I think we are good people, and I told him we are not, so his attempts of making me feel bad about killing and betraying are futile, because neither I nor anyone else here think this is a big deal. We are murderers for hire and that’s all.”

“_Gut_.” Medic commented.

“Ah-ha, no.” Adeline said and both men turned to her. “This is not good. Remember that this guy can and _will_ use your words against you.”

Spy was silent for a moment, meanwhile Medic remembered his own conversation with Saturninus.

_Tell me, doctor, which one of your teammates was sold for a pen?_

“Anyway,” Spy straightened himself and Medic could notice some kind of tension in his posture. “Saturninus seemed to imply something.”

“Vhat exactly?” Medic asked, feeling tension in his own body rising.

“Well, first of all, he started conversation with a quote: _Ich bin ein Teil von jener Kraft, die stets das Böse will…_”

“_…und stets das Gute schafft._” Medic finished, almost automatically. “Zat’s from _Faust_.”

“I know.” Spy said, looking at his host intensively. “And I know what it means. Which brings us to the thing Saturninus told me, before he left.”

“Vhich is…?” Medic asked.

“He said that Heaven doesn’t awaits for anyone of us. Apparently, thanks to you.”

Spy took one step away from Medic and started to walk from one corner of the room to the other.

“And it got me thinking… Back when we finished the fight with Team Fortress Classic, you’ve said something very peculiar. You’ve said, that we’ve beaten their team because, and I quote: 'we don’t have souls'_._” He stopped and looked at Medic: “Now, this could be interpreted in many ways.” He started pacing again. “For example, it could mean that we are all sick, remorseless bastards that enjoy killing. Or, given that you’re a scientist, that you believe there is no such thing as afterlife and soul. However, it was far more in character for you to mean those words literally. And considering that you had some experience with necromancy and actually witnessed demons and afterlife, chances are, you know something we don’t.”

Medic didn’t like where this conversation was going.

“I will ask you one question, doctor, and I’m expecting for you to be sincere with me.” Spy gave him a cold glare. “Did you sold our souls to devil or not?”

Medic was observing him for a moment and wondered if he should explain everything to Spy or lie. And if he will tell him, what then? Will Spy understand? Will he tell the others?

“Before I ansver, I vill ask you something too.” Medic said, looking at Spy. “Vhy am I in zis team?”

“What this has to do with anything?” Spy asked.

“It has everything to do, _mein Freund_.” Medic insisted. “Everyone here has a purpose. So vhat’s _my_ purpose? Vhy do you always scream: ‘Medic! Medic!’ on ze battlefield? Vhat is zat I can do, zat ze others can’t? Zese are very simple questions, Spy.”

The two men were staring at each other intensively, waiting for the other to speak up. Adeline, who was still sitting on the bed, was observing them and probably wondered what they were thinking and what will happen next. Medic kind of wondered it too and awaited for Spy’s response. They were comrades for years now. It was time to find out how much those years meant to the Frenchman.

Suddenly Spy smiled.

“Ah, I understand, _mon ami_.” He chuckled to himself and added: “I should have known…”

“What?” Adeline asked and even stood up. “Can someone explain to me?”

“Later,” Spy told her, before he stopped smiling and turned to Medic again: “I trust you, doctor, as always… but I’m not sure the others will feel the same. You’re asking for very much.”

“I know.” Medic admitted. “But I also know all of you. I know vhat you are capable of.”

“This is far huge than anything you ever did.”

“But ze result is also far more impressive.” Medic came closer and put his hands on Spy’s shoulders. “_Mein Freund_, you can’t even imagine what I’ve managed to achieve.”

Spy gave a soft sigh.

“They won’t like it.”

Medic let go of Spy’s shoulders.

“Zen don’t tell them.” He replied. “They don’t need to know.”

“Yes, they do.” Adeline said. “It will be better if _you_ tell them, than if they were to learn it from Saturninus.” She came closer to them and added: “Look, if you tell them yourself, you will get the chance to explain yourself, maybe even apologize. If _Saturninus_ tell them, he will show you in the worst possible light. Do you really want to risk it, doctor?”

Medic didn’t respond right away. He looked at Adeline and then moved his eyes on the wall near his bed where a couple of minutes earlier were written bloody words: _WE WILL… NOT BE… DENIED!_

Then he remembered before they appeared.

_…as much as you trust your teammates and as much as they trust you, this will all disappear, when they learn what you have done to earn 50 more years of life._

Trust was so hard to earn and so easy to lose. Back when Medic brought Sniper to life, Sniper wasn’t very happy about it, because he thought that Medic was the one who killed him. After straightening this misunderstanding, the Australian/New Zealander was far more forgiving, but will that be the case this time? Especially after he was telling Medic how he was now the most dangerous man alive, because he knew what awaits him on the other side? If he died now, it might not be what he found the last time…

And besides – Spy also didn’t know any details about how the bargain with the devil went down. Would he trust Medic as much as he trusted him now, if he knew? Sometimes his teammates were better off not knowing…

And was he even able to explain all of this to them?

_Tell me, doctor, which one of your teammates was sold for a pen?_

Why was he even worried about it? It wasn’t like it was something he particularly cared about until recently. All he ever wanted from his team was that they would respect him as a fellow teammate and professional; and that he could do whatever he needed to perform his experiments. He never cared all that much if the others like him or not.

_“Heavy, do you trust me?”_

_“Yes, of course, doctor! You saved me so many times, I trust you with my life.”_

_“Vould you trust me, no matter what? No matter vhat I vould do?”_

_“Doctor, you did many bad things in your life. Many of them were also done to us and frankly we don’t care all that much at this point. These bad things eventually led to good things, after all.”_

Good, old Heavy… He really was Medic’s closest friend here.

_You are a type of a man who would sell out his closest, maybe even his only real friend in this hellhole…_

In the end, Saturninus didn’t know Medic at all.

The German finally turned to Adeline and said:

“I vill think about it.”

“Better hurry up then, doctor.” Adeline gave him a serious look. “You don’t have much time.”

“Don’t worry.” This time it was Spy’s turn to put his hand on Medic’s shoulder. He also gave him a small smile. “You have an ally in me.”

Medic smiled back.

“_Danke __schön_. I’m glad to hear it.”

He was going to say something else, but suddenly they’ve heard a knock to his door. A moment later a very winded Engineer opened it. He raised eyebrow with surprise at the sight of Spy and Adeline in Medic’s room, before he turned to the doctor himself and said:

“Medic, there is an emergency.”

“I’m on it.” He said and quickly went for his coat. As he was putting it on, he asked: “Vhat’s ze emergency?”

“There’s something wrong with Scout. He lost consciousness and doesn’t move.”


	6. Dreams and reality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I was struggling with the ending for this chapter, but I've managed to pull through. This chapter also contains a little hint about Saturninus. I wonder if you get it.
> 
> Please, review.

Scout was in a really weird place. There was darkness all around him – nothing in front of him, nothing beside him, nothing behind him. If he didn’t know any better, he would say that he was literally nowhere. He did, however, feel ground under his feet and he was breathing air, so it would be reasonable to say that he wasn’t exactly nowhere.

Then again, he wasn’t exactly the reasonable type.

He didn’t know how he got here. Maybe it was just a dream? Yeah, probably that was the case. In dreams, weird shit was basically expected to happen. Then again, weird shit was happening also in real life. Scout eagerly waited for what was going to transpire next.

He didn’t have to wait for long. For soon a white face appeared in front him and started to slowly coming closer and closer. The longer Scout was observing it, the more details he noticed. For starters, the face wasn’t exactly a face but an emotionless, white mask. Next there was the sound of steps echoing through the darkness, so the stranger definitely possessed feet. Finally there was an outline of silhouette that was emerging from blackness – apparently the stranger was wearing black robe. And when he finally stopped few meters away from Scout, the young man realized who was standing right in front of him.

“Hey, you’re that guy, who wants to get Medic!”

“Indeed.” The hissing voice, although quiet, echoed through the darkness.

Scout suddenly felt fear. He didn't like it.

“J-just g-g-go away, dude.” Scout said, trying to sound confident in spite of his shaking voice. She finally got a hold of himself. “Because when I end with ya, you will be very sorry. Yeah, I’m gonna fuck you up so bad yo mama won’t recognize you.”

Saturninus gave a quiet, yet oddly menacing laugh.

“Poor, delusional child… Do you really think someone like _you_ can do anything to _me_? The others are either trained assassins, or far, _far_ smarter than you will ever be. Your only asset is that you run really fast.”

Scout was a simple guy. He’s one of those guys who’s response to nervousness was (sometimes misplaced) confidence. And now he was going to go full-on Scout on this asshole.

“If you’ve come here only to give me a bad trash talk, you’re wasting time.” Scout smirked. “See, I know my value and I don’t care about what others think of me.” He pointed both of his thumbs on himself. “I am a gift to mankind, God’s favorite person and the son of the legendary Tom Jones. There is no possible way you could make me feel bad about myself.”

“Oh, really?” Saturninus said and moved aside.

In the middle of the blackness there was suddenly a light shining over two figures lying on the ground… Or rather – one figure was lying and the other was leaning over them. The lying figure was clearly a wounded Scout, and the other person was Tom Jones. The eyes of wounded Scout became emty and the young man watching the whole scene realized that it was the moment of his death. He felt warm inside as he remembered his awakening in Heaven and meeting God, once he died on Gray Mann’s island. Yes, that was definitely a good memory – not only did he talk with his real dad but also went to Heaven.

But suddenly a steam started to go out from Tom Jones and soon he turned into Spy, who was still cradling dead Scout’s body. And immediately Scout felt how the warm feeling inside of him disappeared.

“Deep down you always knew.” Saturninus spoke.

The Spy in front of him stood up and just left, while the light was still on dead Scout.

“Everyone knows and they are mocking you behind your back.”

_Yes, your father disappears often…_ – Heavy’s voice echoed in Scout’s mind.

“Little mistake of a one-night stand. A boy so pathetic that even his own father hates him.”

Scout closed eyes and laughed to his own thoughts, before turning to Saturninus.

“Jokes on you! Spy’s romance with Ma isn’t just a one-night stand. As much as the thought itself makes me wish to cut my veins and puke to the end of time, the French bastard really cares about her.”

Saturninus didn’t say anything for a moment. He only took few steps back, which was a really weird thing to do. Scout decided to go on:

“Besides, do you seriously want me to believe that fucking _Spy_ is my father and he disguised himself as Tom Jones when I was dying? Explain to me then why he told me that he was proud of me? Why he was so nice to me in the end? Spy doesn’t like me. He never did and he never will. He relishes in making my life a living hell, so tell me, why would he say all those nice things about me?”

“Simple.” Saturninus said. “You were going to die and he pitied you. But, as you said earlier, he never liked you, anyway.”

Suddenly the dead Scout in the light was replaced by a Spy sitting in his armchair, with cigarette in his hand. The demon came closer to him and spoke:

“If you knew what I know, you would kill Medic yourself with bare hands. And if little Jeremy knew what I know, he would kill _you_.”

“I don’t really care what this punk thinks of me.” Spy replied in his usual dry tone. “He may try to kill me, if he wishes to.”

“And you will kill him first.” Saturninus said.

Spy didn’t give any response. He was just sitting in the armchair and observing the demon before him. Scout wondered what was on Spy’s mind at this moment… Then again this whole experience seemed to be utterly surreal.

But Scout’s train of thought had been cut by Saturninus speaking to Spy again:

“This time, however, he won’t go to Heaven. Heaven doesn’t await for any one of you. Thanks to your Medic.”

The light disappeared, alongside, with Spy. Saturninus turned to Scout, who smirked again.

“Now this is bullshit, when I’ve heard one. God would _never_ sent me to Hell.”

“And how do you know that what you have seen was real?” Saturninus asked. “Maybe it was just something your dying brain made up in last moments? Your little wish-fulfillment about being loved and appreciated?” Suddenly the demon showed up next to Scout’s ear and whispered: “You’re a criminal and you hang out with criminals. Do you seriously think you would end up in Heaven?”

“Still, a deal’s a deal, and here you are.” A disembodied voice spoke suddenly in the void. “I’m sure you will find the paperwork in order. If you could just initial by your original signature, we’ll get you out of here and on your way to Hell.”

Scout looked around, however, he didn’t see anybody beside Saturninus. But soon he heard another, more familiar voice:

“Yes, let’s see… Now_ this _is interesting. Here in article nine, section seven it says that the contract is_ only _biding if you own_ a majority stake _on my soul… so…”

It sounded like Medic. But without the accent.

“But we own _all_ of your soul.” The other voice replied. “You _sold_ it to us.”

“Ah, originally, yes, that was the case. But you see, I’ve since surgically added eight more…”

“WE WILL… NOT BE… DENIED!” A first voice yelled out of nowhere.

Scout almost jumped in the place. The light appeared once again, this time showing Medic crouching next to a wooden desk, covering his ears. A moment later he regained his composure and stood up. That was when Scout noticed giant red hands resting on the desk and a piece of paper lying between them.

Medic smiled and said, sounding kind of nervous:

“Well… Aheh. There _is_ another option.”

He leaned over the piece of paper and suddenly Scout saw who Medic was talking to – a big-ass, red guy with horns. The devil. But this devil looked weird, not the way Scout would imagine the devil to look like – in a business suit, white shirt and red tie.

Medic went on:

“If you were to send me back to Earth, say for another 50 years…” He put his hands together. “Well. You’re clever man. You tempted me once, after all. I’m sure you’ll figure out a way to trick me out of my other eight souls.”

Scout couldn’t believe his ears and his eyes.

“In fact: that’s a lovely looking pen.”

As Medic was saying it, Scout noticed a pen lying on the far side of the desk. The devil was observing it with interest. Medic moved away, stood right in front of the devil and put his hands behind his back. He leaned more towards devil’s face and repeated:

“I said that’s a lovely looking pen.”

An obviously displeased devil took the pen and put it up.

“Would you give me a soul for this…?” But before he would finish, Medic said:

“I would!” He grabbed the pen and started to walk away. As he was leaving, he went on in a mocking tone: “Ohhh, what have I _done_? See, you’re well on your way! I don’t like my chances. At any rate, I should really get going.”

Saturninus leaned to Scout’s ear again.

“This is the man whose hands you put your lives into. The man who sold you to increase his own lifespan and prolong his wait for the inventible.”

Medic passed Scout with content smile and disappeared, but the young man was still looking in his direction.

“He never cared about any of you.” Saturninus continued. “At best you were just lab rats to him. Scientists may pet their lab rats, occasionally, but in the end they don’t care about them.”

Scout turned to him and said:

“Hold on for a sec. This Medic didn’t have any accent.”

“That’s because originally this conversation went in German. I merely translated it.”

“This is bullshit.”

“You know deep down that this scenario is very plausible.”

“No.” Scout shook his head. “Medic is certainly one crazy guy, but he would never…”

“He would. And you _know_ he would.”

Come to think of it… It wasn’t hard to imagine Medic selling his soul to devil, so maybe he would sell others’ souls too?

“If you’re still not convinced, ask Heavy how he and Medic defeated Classic Heavy.”

And, just like that, he was gone. Moreover, Scout felt like he was waking up from this odd dream.

* * *

Adeline – along with Spy and Engineer, who were standing in Scout’s room – observed how Medic was working on unconscious Scout. The German estimated that the patient went into coma and needed a proper stimulus to wake up. Medic decided to perform heart massage on Scout and when that didn’t work, he put electricity through him. Adeline was _astonished_ when Scout woke up and seemed to be fine.

“Don’t be alarmed, miss.” Engineer told her. “This is how he does his job. We stopped being surprised that it works long time ago.”

In some ways, it was kind of enlightening. Medic was efficient, confident and quick-thinking under pressure. Adeline had no doubt – he was focused on helping his patient. For a moment he reminded her of a real doctor – not a mad scientist, not a mercenary, not a man who sold his soul to the devil, but a doctor who wanted to _save_ his patient. Just like when she met him for the first time, Adeline was surprised to see a more normal side of him.

This man was truly a walking paradox.

_Oh, poor, little Adeline! You have to believe in goodness of people you are sent to protect from me. Even if you know very well, there is no goodness to begin with…_

_We are mercenaries, plain and simple. Each and every person in this team is guilty of killing someone. Just because you’ve seen us being friendly with each other during lunch and even got a sandwich from Heavy, it doesn’t mean we are the good guys now…_

_Ah, so you vant to save my soul? Bring salvation to a lost lamb before it’s too late?_

_Oh, Frau Adeline, you obviously don’t know anyone vho stays here…_

Maybe she really didn’t. She was seeing some semblance of care; some semblance of good… But somewhere in the back of her head there was a voice that was whispering to her: “They kill for living. They don’t care about others or even about each other. They feel no remorse. They are irredeemable…”

_You have to believe in goodness of people you are sent to protect from me. Even if you know very well, there is no goodness to begin with…_

Saturninus’ words were still echoing in her mind. Against all her efforts, she couldn’t just forget or ignore them. She spent almost whole day with the RED Team, but she felt that she was missing something. Something very important.

“Ah, another successful procedure!” Medic said with satisfied smile, bringing Adeline back to reality. “You can now thank me, _Junge_.”

However, Scout didn’t say anything. He was just watching Medic intensively. Adeline already felt that something was wrong. And it had nothing to do with his physical condition or the fact that he just woke up from a coma.

“Vhat?” Medic asked. “Zere is something on my face?”

Only then Scout seemed to notice other people in his room. He shook his head and said with a forced smile:

“Man, this was a one weird dream!”

“What were you dreaming about, kid?” Engineer asked.

Scout blinked and after a short moment of hesitation, gave him a nervous smile.

“Ah, man, I’ve dreamed that Heavy wanted to marry me, Sniper was my maid of honor and Demoman was our priest.”

Adeline looked at others. At least Spy didn’t believe what Scout was saying. He gave the angel a meaningful look.

“Anyway,” Scout began. “everything is fine now. Go to sleep, guys.”

“Okay then,” Spy began and turned in the direction of the corridor. “We leave you to your own devices then.”

“You know my head, Spy. Was it the first time when I go into coma?”

“Ninth, maybe.” Medic pointed out. “Or does alcohol-induced coma count too?”

They talked about it like it was the most normal thing to discuss. There was no concern from Spy about his son’s wellbeing. There was no concern from Medic and Engineer about their teammate.

_Just because you’ve seen us being friendly with each other during lunch and even got a sandwich from Heavy, it doesn’t mean we are the good guys now…_

Then again, these were big, mean mercenaries. They were probably giving their youngest member hell on a daily basis.

_You have to believe in goodness of people you are sent to protect from me. Even if you know very well, there is no goodness to begin with…_

“Okay, let’s go to sleep.” Engineer said and started to direct towards the door.

All of them left Scout’s room, went down the corridor and stopped somewhere near the cafeteria. Adeline said:

“Keep an eye on him.”

“You don’t have to say it.” Spy replied, looking in the direction of Scout’s room.

It was quite a crazy day, to be honest. This mission really was harder than her usual assignments. Not because Saturninus was acting differently than usual (well, maybe a little), but because her charges were the way they were. She never met such a bizarre bunch of people. She didn’t quite know what to think of them.

_You have to believe in goodness of people… Even if you know very well, there is no goodness to begin with…_

She felt at loss. And whenever she was at loss, she needed some time to think, to talk her frustrations out. Maybe she was going about this mission the wrong way. Maybe she needed a better insight.

“I have to go now, but I’ll be back soon, I promise.” She told Engineer, Spy and Medic. “Look, for now I can only tell you one thing: If you want to make Saturninus weak, no one from your team can be left alone. You need to be in company of people who wish you well. And who act that way too. Especially you, Medic.” She gave him a poignant look. “Hang out with Heavy, with Engineer, even with Archimedes… under no circumstances be on your own.”

She wondered if they understood what she really meant or if she needed to spell it out for them. She wasn’t sure if they would take her seriously, if she told them right away what really made Saturninus weak… although it was a logical conclusion, giving the other factors.

“That… might be hard.” Spy replied.

“Not necessarily.” She smiled, but she wasn’t entirely sure of it herself. Nevertheless, she added: “Also think through what I’ve told you in Medic’s room…” She noticed how Engineer’s eyebrows rose up, but she went on: “And keep an eye on Scout.”

“Yes, yes.” Spy said in irritation. Then he put his hand on the girl’s shoulder reassuringly and added: “We are mercenaries, we can take care of themselves. We will handle this.”

_We are mercenaries, plain and simple. Each and every person in this team is guilty of killing someone…_

She deliberated whenever she should say anything else. She felt doubt creeping inside of her. She needed to think.

“Well then,” She spoke, smiling again. “I will bid you goodbye, gentlemen. We will see ourselves soon.”

“Don’t worry, ma’am.” Engineer spoke up, for the first time in a long time, and gave her a light smile. “We’ll be ready.”

She smiled back for the last time, and with that, she left.


	7. Sympathy for the devils

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Please, leave a review.

Teufort had couple of churches. Most of them were of Protestant denomination, but there was also a Catholic one, and a synagogue. They looked nice and clean, Adeline, however, wanted some privacy and decided to go to the one abandoned church on the outskirts of the town, halfway to the area where Gravel Wars were taking place. The church was rather small, there was dust lying almost everywhere, not to mention that the altar was in bad shape too. It was a sad sight to see – the House of God in ruin. Adeline had to clean this up.

But first she kneeled, made a sign of cross and slowly stood up. She managed to find two candles that she lit up and put on the altar. Then she summoned a broom and started to brush the dusted floor. Her footsteps echoed through the abandoned church in a soothing, but somewhat eerie silence.

Adeline gave a soft sigh and looked at the cross hanging over the altar.

“Look, Lord, I understand that my job is to protect humans from demons… and I understand that, technically, all humans have the potential to be good and evil… but I’m not sure if I can handle this mission.”

She was always doing that, when she needed to think on the mission at hand – she was finding an empty church and starting to talk out her frustrations, usually walking from one corner of the church to the other. God was always listening and what better place to speak with Him than His own house?

“First they seem like a nice enough people… Well, maybe aside from Soldier… and Scout… and Sniper is also a little rough around the edges… Look, the point is, when one spends some time with them, they _seem_ like not such a bad guys.” She gave another soft sigh and saddened. “But then again, they are who they are, and I don’t know if I can overlook it. Especially because they pride themselves in being professionals in what they do. Which so happen to be all about killing others.”

“Adeline,” A voice that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere, spoke to her. “I don’t ask you to overlook it. My Son didn’t overlook the sins of others but He was helping them, nevertheless.”

“Yes, I know.” She said, still dusting the floor. “But He is You. Look, what I’m trying to say is that I’m not sure if…”

“…if the good you see is really there.” God finished her sentence. “Not only them being good to other people, but also being good to each other.”

“Yes! That!” She replied. “I mean, I know that Heavy values Medic very much and Medic seems to think the same of him. I know that Soldier likes to hang out with Demoman and talk with him about weapons. I know that Pyro is Engineer’s roommate and they understand each other pretty well. I know that Spy is Scout’s father… But Sniper said it himself: sometimes they’re band of brothers, sometimes they’re each other’s worst enemies.”

“I always liked the ‘brothers and sisters’ metaphor of relationships between people. Brothers and sisters may drive each other crazy; may be mean to each other, but, at the end of the day, they’re supposed to care for one another.”

“Yes, Lord, I understand. I perfectly understand, really.” She went on, going back to her chore. “But there is one thing I just _can’t_ understand.”

“Yes? What is it?”

“I can’t understand Medic. One moment he’s a very polite and friendly scientist, who aids his patients, and next he’s a laughing maniac who experiments on them and makes a deal with… Urgh…” She started to dust faster in frustration. “And Spy… I don’t understand him either. I don’t understand how he’s suddenly okay with what Medic did.”

“Medic managed to convince him that he can be trusted with this. Perhaps you need to ask yourself a question why would any of them trust someone like Medic. Even after all the things he has done. Even after he performed so many experiments on them; even after he joined Team Fortress Classic; even after they’ve learned he’s not exactly sane. There has to be something that warranted this trust. You need to look at the situation from this perspective.”

“You’re right, obviously.” Adeline said, but suddenly she heard some kind of ripple coming from the upstairs.

She looked at the organs on the upper parts of the church. She caught a glimpse of… something. For a moment she thought that it had to be some kind of a bird nesting near the roof, but the longer she was listening to the silence of the church, the more she was aware that someone was there. Moreover – she had an idea who could it be.

“This is a good opportunity to ask them yourself.” God said.

Adeline smiled at that and decided to go on with this plan. She called at the direction of organs:

“I know you’re there! You can come out now! At least help me clean up this mess!”

“Dang it!” Someone cursed from upstairs. “Well, pardner, we might show up ourselves now.”

A moment later two figures stood up, coming out from behind the barriers upstairs. One figure was Engineer, the other – Pyro, who gave few muffled noises.

“Yeah, you’re right.” Was Engineer’s response. He looked at Adeline and said: “Wait for us, miss. We will be right back with ya.”

* * *

Scout was lying on his bad and staring the ceiling. He still wondered whenever what he has seen in his dream was real or not. Obviously, it was ridiculous enough to assume that Saturninus was repeating the same bullshit as others – that Spy was supposed to be Scout’s biological father – but the idea that Medic would sell their souls to the devil was asinine…

Right?

Yeah, sure, Medic did replace their hearts with the animal ones… And he _was_ raising the dead almost every October… And his reaction to green, disgusting tumors on transported bread was oddly enthusiastic… And there were lots, _lots_ of times when Medic was acting like mad scientists from horror movies…

Oh, shit. Medic sold their souls to the devil.

Scout felt dread rising inside of him. He was too young and too handsome to go to Hell. He had a mission – he needed to make love to as much women as possible or else the world will be caput. Maybe God will understand that this whole “deal with the devil” wasn’t Jeremy’s idea and the Great Almighty will save Scout from this predicament. After all, they were going to meet in 1987.

Scout shook his head and sat up. No, he shouldn’t believe some creepy asshole just like that. He needed proof, some kind of confirmation.

_If you’re still not convinced, ask Heavy how he and Medic defeated Classic Heavy._

Maybe there was something in it. Scout heard that Medic has been killed by Classic Heavy and then he came back, and helped their Heavy take down the other big guy. So maybe if Scout asked about what exactly happened back then, something would become clear.

And so Scout left his room to look for Heavy. He didn’t care that it was late and Heavy probably was asleep. He needed answers.

* * *

Engineer and Pyro turned out to be very helpful – they immediately started to clean up the church without any complains. Pyro was collecting trash scattered on the floor, while Engineer was dusting benches with wet cloth. All three of them were staying close to each other to talk with each other.

“I have a question, miss.” Engineer began. “About what you said here.”

Adeline knew they only heard her part of the conversation. God was speaking to her and only her. She was, however, worried how much did they hear.

“Yes, mister Conagher?” She finally asked and forced a polite smile on her face.

“You’ve mentioned some kind of a deal that Medic made. Was it, by any chance, a deal with the devil?”

Here it goes…

Adeline gave soft sigh and started to examine Engineer’s face. He was his usual laid back self, so it was hard to tell what will be his reaction to the news. Obviously Pyro was far harder to read, due to his headgear.

“Yes, unfortunately.” She finally replied.

“He sold his soul?” Engie asked further.

“Yes… but it’s far more complicated.”

“Okay.” He seemed to take it rather calmly. He turned to Pyro and said: “Guess I owe you five backs, man.”

“You’ve betted whenever Medic sold his soul or not?” Adeline raised an eyebrow.

“You must admit it was a pretty safe bet. I mean, you’ve seen Doc in action.”

“So what was _your_ bet, mister Conagher that you’ve lost?” Adeline stopped dusting the floor and put her both hands and chin on the peak of the broom.

“Pretty similar: that he has a demon in the basement.” Engineer stopped working too.

“And I guess, it doesn’t move you, like, at all?”

“I mean, I’ve seen him put a soul of a mugger into Halloween pumpkin. Making deal with the devil isn’t all that farfetched.”

Adeline gave a soft sigh and looked at the floor.

“This wasn’t supposed to be like that.” She gazed at Engineer. “_Medic_ was supposed tell you all about it. He was supposed to tell you the whole story.”

Engineer got serious.

“You’ve said that this is complicated issue. There’s more to it than just simply Medic selling his soul, isn’t it?”

Adeline only nodded.

“So this is this particularly bad thing that Saturninus may use against Medic.”

“Yes.”

“Spy knows about it?”

“He knows. I suggested to tell all of you about it, but so far they’re both hesitant.” Adeline said.

“I see.”

She took few steps towards the Engineer. Pyro came closer too, still holding the bag with trash. The girl started again:

“Mister Conagher, mister Pyro, now _I_ have a question for _you_. I hope you will answer sincerely.”

Both mercenaries looked at each other, before they nodded in agreement and turned to her.

“Be our guest, miss.” Engineer said with a smile.

Adeline smiled back but stopped a moment later.

“Why do you trust him? I don’t want to be disrespectful, but…”

“No worries, the confusion is pretty understandable.” Engie cut in, giving her another friendly grin. “The short answer is that Doc, although a bit eccentric, is good in his job.”

“Yes, but the experiments…”

“…are all well and good. Everyone needs a hobby. And his scientific work is what makes him even more efficient. As for him being a ‘laughing maniac’, as you put it not so long time ago, you need to put into consideration the duality of man. One human being can be both a madman and a genius; both evil and good.”

“I know.” Adeline said.

“Besides, in our line of work, being a little crazy can be beneficial. Sometimes we owe our success to our comrades bringing their own brand of insanity.”

Adeline knew he wasn’t talking only about Medic. She could feel the gratitude and sense of comradery coming from Engineer; gratitude and sense of comradery he felt for Pyro, who was standing right next to him. She smiled at it.

“I guess, it makes sense.” She got serious and asked: “What about the fact that Medic joined Team Fortress Classic?”

Engie stopped smiling and sighed.

“I can’t speak much about it. When the original fight on Gray Mann’s island occurred, I was preoccupied with prolonging the life of Administrator. Come to think of it, she probably kept me by her side also because I would be compromised otherwise.”

Pyro looked at him and gave a surprised murmur. Engineer turned to his friend and replied with a bit of uneasiness:

“Yeah, pardner, you see, my Pa was the Engineer of Team Fortress Classic. If I’ve come with you, I probably would be torn about the whole situation. Dang it, even when I was working on Administrator, I was constantly thinking about you all and my old man. I didn’t know if he survive or if you kill him too.”

Pyro gave a muffled response and Engie smiled to him.

“I know he’s alive and that he escaped.” Engineer got serious. “But he is, obviously, shaken about the whole situation. He lost his teammates and witnessed his leader going mad with power…” After short pause, he shook his head and added: “Anyway, I didn’t mind at all that Medic was on the other team. As far as I know, he later helped the REDs.”

Adeline thought about it. Maybe she should look into this incident once again. Maybe there was something she missed…

_I’ve had parents._

In fact, maybe she missed more than she initially suspected.

Pyro said something and Engineer quickly translated it:

“Pyro wants to know if we go to Hell.”

This question took Adeline aback. Especially because Pyro was the one asking it, and they were the way they were and most of the evil their committed wasn’t entirely their fault.

“I won’t let you go to Hell.” She said finally and put a reassuring hand on Pyro’s shoulder. “And I won’t let Saturninus get anyone of you.”

Pyro mumbled something and Adeline felt like they were staring at her behind their mask. Engineer also became almost gravely serious as he translated his friend’s speech:

“But you do think that we are bad people. You said it yourself couple of minutes ago.”

Why it had to be those two who heard her conversation? Why Engineer and Pyro and not, for example, Sniper or Spy? Of all the mercenaries, Engineer and Pyro were, arguably, the least bloodthirsty…

Or were they? Was Spy bloodthirsty? Was Sniper? Was Scout?

“Mister Pyro, mister Canagher,” She began, giving both mercenaries in front of her a sad smile. “It doesn’t matter what I think. My mission is to protect you from Saturninus. And, as you, mister Conagher, pointed out, humans can be both good and evil. Therefore, everyone can be saved.”

“That’s very admirable,” Engineer replied. “but it must be really hard for ya, miss. To protect someone like us.”

Pyro mumbled something too and their friend translated it immediately:

“Pyro says that there are times when we are nice. And it’s not so rare as one could expect.”

Adeline’s smile became a little wider. She got an idea.

“I will show you something, Pyro.”

She summoned her sword and presented it to them. A moment later it burst into flames, which, obviously, fascinated Pyro very much. Just like Heavy earlier, they and Engineer were staring at the fire coming from the weapon with contentment. But Pyro actually extended their hand and touched the flames, before giving a murmur of surprise. Engineer, on the other hand, was looking at the sword and, almost absent-mindly, whispered:

“Grandpa Radigan…”

He shook his head and moved his eyes away from the sword. Adeline decided this is the good moment to hide it. So she did, to Pyro’s disappointment.

“What is that?” Engie asked.

“Something that helps me fight off Saturninus.” She replied with a smile, but then got serious. “It’s not the flames that can be deadly to him, you know. It’s what fuels them.”

“Fuels?” Engineer raised his eyebrows.

Adeline nodded. A moment later a realization seemed to down on both Engineer and Pyro.

“Ah, I see.” Engie said, grinning. “That’s actually pretty clever.”

Suddenly he yawned. Pyro did it too.

“Go to sleep, gentlemen. You will need all the energy you get.”

“What about you? Don’t need sleep? Or help with cleaning the church, miss?” Engineer asked and his sincerity made Adeline smile.

“I’ll be fine. Now go.” She said.

They’ve bid her goodbye and left her alone. She turned to the cross and said:

“Thank you, Lord.”

* * *

Scout found Heavy in the locker room, reading some book. Long story short, the big guy wasn’t amused by the fact that the young man wanted to speak with him, interrupting his reading session, but once Scout actually explained what he came with, Heavy was more than happy to tell him about his great victory over the Classic Heavy. The Russian was a very energetic storyteller and didn’t miss an opportunity to present some of his or the other Heavy’s moves. The story itself was, for the most part, going the way Scout heard it happened – Heavy saw Classic Heavy killing Medic and went totally berserk on his ass. Now, when Scout knew about the deal, the sudden resurrection of Medic was something the young man found a bit suspicious (then again, he came back to life the same day, so maybe it wasn’t all that suspicious), but he didn’t say anything to Heavy.

“And then doctor draws something out of his pocket and says: ‘This is a device that speeds up the birth of baboon babies, I’ve put in you. So who’s ready to be a mother?’ He held the other Heavy’s attention long enough for me to rip the life extending device off of him. Once I did it, it was easy to beat him.” Heavy started to laugh and added: “Later doctor told me that the thing he was holding in his hand wasn’t the pregnancy speeding invention but an ordinary pen! Can you believe it?!”

Heavy was laughing at his story, but Scout didn’t feel like laughing.

“What kind of pen?” He asked. “How did it look?”

Heavy stopped laughing and gave him an expression of mild surprise.

“Just a pen. I didn’t get a good look at it.”

“Did he have the pen before he died?”

“I don’t know. Probably he was keeping it in his pocket. He said he didn’t have time to grab the actual pregnancy speeding device, so he had to improvise. Why do you ask?”

Scout deliberated whenever he should tell him about his dream or not. He himself didn’t know what to think. He needed to tell it to somebody. Somebody who was reasonable and good with listening. Obviously, Heavy didn’t qualify.

“I was just trying to put it all in order, you know? I didn’t understand how it went out.” He finally said. He stood up from the bench he was sitting in and added: “Anyway, thanks for the story. It was really cool.”

Before Heavy could say anything else, Scout left the locker room… only to bump into someone in the corridor. When he looked up to see who it was, he saw Demoman.

“Oi, lad! Watch where you’re runnin’, will ya!”

Scout put himself up and said:

“There is something I have to tell you, Demo.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This scene when Adeline talks to God about her current mission is something I always wanted to write in fic with her and Saturninus but never got to do it. However, generally I don't imagine anybody eavesdropping her conversation, but in this fic I thought it could in place... although, originally I imagined that it weren't just Engineer and Pyro. Maybe I will use the original idea later.
> 
> Anyway, it was so weird to write God into this fic, especially after the way He was portrayed in Scout's vision of the afterlife. I will think how to reconcile it later.


End file.
